Syria rebels pin hopes on unified southern front

Rebels in southern Syria say they've united tens of thousands offighters and rejected the extremism and infighting that have plagued the uprisingelsewhere, but still want for external support.The so-called Southern Front was created around two months ago and includessome 30,000 fighters from more than 55 mainstream rebel groups operating fromthe Jordanian border to the outskirts of Damascus and the Golan Heights, the rebelssay. The new alliance is in part aimed at alleviating Western concerns that providinggreater aid to the fractious rebels would bolster Al-Qaeda-inspired groups and seeheavy weapons fall into the hands of extremists."The objective is to unify fragmented factions to topple the regime of (PresidentBashar) al-Assad and work on creating a democratic state that would preserve therights of all segments and minorities," Ibrahim al-Jabawi, a former police brigadier general turned spokesman for the alliance, told AFP in Amman.Amman (AFP) - Rebels in southern Syria say they've united tens of thousands offighters and rejected the extremism and infighting that have plagued the uprising elsewhere, but still want for external support.The so-called Southern Front was created around two months ago and includessome 30,000 fighters from more than 55 mainstream rebel groups operating fromthe Jordanian border to the outskirts of Damascus and the Golan Heights, the rebelssay.The new alliance is in part aimed at alleviating Western concerns that providinggreater aid to the fractious rebels would bolster Al-Qaeda-inspired groups and see heavy weapons fall into the hands of extremists."The objective is to unify fragmented factions to topple the regime of (PresidentBashar) al-Assad and work on creating a democratic state that would preserve therights of all segments and minorities," Ibrahim al-Jabawi, a former police brigadiergeneral turned spokesman for the alliance, told AFP in Amman."Al-Nusra, which has limited influence in the south, does not have any role in thesouthern front," he said, adding that other Islamist groups in the south "are limitedand not developing."Since early January, ISIL has been at war with Al-Nusra and other Islamist andmoderate rebel groups, which accuse it of kidnapping, torturing and killing activistsand rebels opposed to its strict version of Islamic governance."We do not want the situation of south to reach the situation of the north," said Abual-Majd.In a bid to prevent the infighting that has plagued the rebels since the start of theuprising, the southern alliance has established a court in Daraa's central prison toresolve disputes. "When there is a problem between (rebel) groups, they can go to the court to solve it.We have judges and lawyers who are working there. We are recruiting even guardsand other employees," Abu al-Majd said."At the same place we are planning to build a big hospital."- Heavy weapons needed -Despite projecting an image of unity, moderation and discipline, rebels in the southsay they have not received the kind of heavy weapons needed to tip the balance against Assad's army.And Abu al-Majd said the regime troops based in the south are more formidablethan in other parts of the country."The regime keeps one of the most important concentration of forces in the south. Itis not easy to move around..." he said."We have enough light weapons but we need weapons that would help us deal with air strikes and tanks," Jabawi said."We hope that Syria's friends would help us and provide us with such weapons, particularly anti-aircraft guns... to help liberate all southern parts until we reachDamascus."At least 20 US-made TOW anti-tank missiles have been supplied to a moderate rebelgroup fighting in the north by a "Western source" as part of a pilot programme, arebel official told AFP earlier this month.But it's unclear whether similar plans are in the works for the south, and suchweapons would be of little use against Assad's air force, which has been employed to devastating effect against the rebels.Abu Hafs, a fighter from the Martyrs of Huran Brigade, said rebels in the southsuffer from shortages of even non-lethal aid."We do not have enough hospitals and the ones we have lack basic things," he toldAFP in the northern Jordanian city of Irbid.